Assailants sought in fatal train platform beating

LOS ANGELES — Authorities sought help Tuesday from the public in the investigation of a fatal beating last month by two women on a busy Metro Blue Line train platform.

Surveillance video showed John Wayne Whitmore, 65, being beaten on June 13 at a station in unincorporated Willowbrook, said Nicole Nishida, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Whitmore and the attackers had a brief argument before they began beating him while several people stood nearby, Nishida said.

“There were so many people around who saw what happened,” she said.

The Board of Supervisors is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the death of Whitmore.

Family members described him as an accomplished artist and said he was running errands the day of the incident.

At a press conference, his sister Gwendelyn Whitmore Aldridge urged anyone with information to come forward.

Whitmore suffered head trauma and was taken to a hospital where he died on June 20. It’s possible the attackers are not aware that Whitmore died, Nishida said.